Chase Elliott’s Slump Could Be a Blessing in Disguise for NASCAR

NASCAR’s most popular driver for six straight seasons is only 28 years old and already has the stats to show for a future spot alongside his legendary father, Million Dollars owner Bill Elliott. However, a 45-race winless streak for the 2020 Cup Series champion has somewhat tarnished Chase Elliott’s iconic name as of late. A closer look at the dashing Georgian’s performances post-2022 Regular Season Championship triumph leads one to realize that he is indeed on a downward trajectory. 

Public opinion elevates champions to “great” status only through regular and consistent victories, regardless of whether those wins stemmed from circumstance or the driver’s own mistakes. Maybe it is not fair, and maybe this is too much spotlight for even Chase Elliott himself; nevertheless, insider discussions point to the fact that an unlikely beneficiary—NASCAR—could find an advantage from Chase’s recent winless slump.

How is Chase Elliott’s “Winless” struggle helping other drivers?

On Barstool Sports’ Rubbin is Racin podcast, hosts Michael “Large” McCarthy and Dan “Spider” DiOrio took to an intriguing discussion about Chase Elliott on a recent episode featuring last week’s Phoenix race.

Large, a Chase Elliott enthusiast, picked up the question, providing utmost respect to the #9 driver, saying, “I talk about Chase Elliott every week and Chase had a pretty good beginning of the race, so we always have our eye on it at this point and I have a question for you guys…”

He posed the question of the moment, “Is NASCAR better off that Chase Elliott is not that good for a finite amount of time?” Large began to frame his question better, “We’re very much a Chase Elliot podcast, we want Chase to do very well, we want to have him on the show, all that kind of stuff… But now that he’s had a certain hiccup in his career right… Is it better or worse for NASCAR?

To which his podcast partner Spider candidly replied, “I personally think it’s better for the fans. Obviously, not Chase Elliot fans…” 

DiOrio raised a very interesting point by explaining himself with what he said next: “But like the fans like us that are wanting to get an Insight at more or like, the underdog drivers to get more attention, more shine, um Daniel Suarez for example like coming in, I feel like that’s been a great story…”

Trackhouse Racing’s #99 made an emphatic statement with the 0.003-second Atlanta victory, solidifying his claims as the greatest Mexican-born driver to grace the NASCAR stage as of now. Spider did, however, emphasize how Chase’s slump could help drivers growing in popularity like Suarez, as well as how NASCAR could benefit from a growing talent pool.

Chase Elliott talks about his current standings

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“I think it’s good when the focus in the spotlight gets turned onto other people. Like, it shouldn’t just be Chase Elliott indefinitely forever, despite how I personally feel about him, and how I’ll root for him. There’s a lot more talent than just Chase Elliott in the NASCAR pool.” Spider then empathized with Elliott after his earlier statement, concluding with, “And it sucks that Chase had to kind of you know slump a little or have a regression for this to happen but I do think there are benefits that outweigh just Chase running away with the most popular driver or the most… desired guy year after year.”

The frustrations have been evident on the fans’ part and Elliott’s. This season, two of his teammates have already racked up wins and the #9 HMS driver is yet to break into the top-10. With the next race coming up in a few days at Bristol, Chase reflected last week in Phoenix, on his own “frustrations” regarding the previous year’s playoffs heartbreak, as he had said, Yeah, I was frustrated at different times, but I mean, I could be frustrated today and you wouldn’t know.” 

Read More: Chase Elliott Publicly Rubbishes “Spent” Narrative as He Uncovers Contrasting Truth Surrounding Grim Appearances

He continued, “So some days I might show it a little more than others. But it’s not because I don’t want to be here or it’s not because I don’t want to do good. In fact, it’s really the exact opposite. It’s because I do want to do well and it’s because I do care. And you can take that for whatever you want. But I just want to be good at my job, you know, that’s about it.”

Will we soon see the resurgence of NASCAR’s most popular driver?